Mixed financial results for Las Vegas Sands Corporation

American casino giant Las Vegas Sands Corporation has released its financial results for the twelve months to the end of December showing a 2.3% decrease year-on-year in overall revenues to $11.41 billion while its net income fell by some 15.5% to hit $2.02 billion.

The Las Vegas-based firm operates casinos in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Singapore and Macau and revealed that its annual results had been adversely affected by lower net revenues, non-recurring legal costs and higher pre-opening expenses related to its new $2.7 billion Parisian Macao Casino Resort.

“Our focus remains on the consistent execution of our proven global growth strategy, which leverages the power of our unique convention-based integrated resort business model,” read a statement from Sheldon Adelson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Las Vegas Sands Corporation. “We are particularly encouraged by the recent passage of the integrated resort promotion bill in Japan as it paves the way for more detailed legislation that we believe will create opportunities for us to bring the economic benefits of our industry-leading convention-based integrated resort business model to this dynamic and promising market.”

The news was better for the fourth quarter as Las Vegas Sands Corporation saw its net income rise by 5.6% year-on-year to $607 million while overall revenues swelled by 7.4% to $3.08 billion. Consolidated adjusted property earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for the three-month period hit $1.12 billion, which was a boost of 6.1%, from a margin of 36.3% with the Parisian Macao Casino Resort having generated revenues of $95 million since its opening on September 13.

“In Macau, our industry-leading Cotai Strip property portfolio, which has been meaningfully expanded by the opening of the Parisian Macao Casino Resort, generated growth of 16% in the mass-gaming segment,” read the statement from Adelson. “This result was our strongest growth in Macau’s most important and profitable segment since the second quarter of 2014. The Macau market overall continued its recovery in the fourth quarter while our Macau portfolio generated visitation growth of 23% and higher hotel occupancy rates. We are confident that the benefits of the increased scale we have achieved in our market-leading hotel, retail and entertainment offerings will enable us to deliver growth in Macau and strong financial performance.”

However, the American company’s Macau-facing Sands China Limited subsidiary pointed to a slower than expected ramp up at the Parisian Macao Casino Resort for its $610 million in fourth-quarter adjusted property earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization being slightly below market analyst expectations. Nevertheless, the Hong Kong-listed subordinate still saw its total revenues for the final three months of 2016 swell by 12% year-on-year to $1.9 billion even as its net income fell off by 7.9% to $348 million.

“As you may recall I had first indicated back in January of last year that we were seeing signs of stabilization in mass gaming revenues in Macau and in June our mass gaming revenues saw positive year-on-year growth for the first time in two years,” Adelson stated during a recent earnings conference call. “This encouraging trend continued into the second half of the year as our mass table revenues grew by 6% in the third quarter and further accelerated to growth of 16% in the fourth quarter driven by the first full quarter of the Parisian Macao Casino Resort.”

In connected news, Sands China Limited recently declared that it will be awarding eligible employees with a discretionary bonus worth at least one month’s salary while increasing their annual take-home pay by as much as 6% from March. The decision means that full-time workers earning less than $1,500 per month will see at least $75 extra in their monthly pay packets while those earning more will benefit to the tune of around $30.

“Although faced with a challenging and competitive business environment, Sands China Limited offered a salary increase last year,” read a statement from Wilfred Wong Ying Wai, President for Sands China Limited, which operates The Venetian Macao, Sands Macao, Sands Cotai Central and The Plaza Macao alongside the Parisian Macao Casino Resort. “Sands China Limited is very proud of the commitment and solid contributions of all our team members and seeks to reward them accordingly. This year, we would like to share the successes of 2016 by offering a salary increment and bonus for eligible team members to express our gratitude for their teamwork and dedication to the company.”